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Originally Posted by tibear
Given what the offense did after the obstruction, I can't believe that the umpires still decided to protect R1 back to second. R1 and R2 are the only reason R1 is thrown out at third, if anything, R1 should have been protected to third because of where the ball and the runners were at the time of the obstruction, but because of poor baserunning, R2 stayed on third and as a result R1 was stuck between 2nd and 3rd.
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Assume this play happened without obstruction:
(1) R1, R2. O outs. Line drive to right field that one-hops the right field wall. R2 rounds third and is held up as F9 gets ball back into infield quickly. R1 rounds second and keeps going to second (no doubt believing that R2 will easily score on a one-hopper to the wall). 2/3rds of the way to third, R1 realizes that R2 has been held up. R1 now scurries back to second base.
O.K. Now insert the obstruction:
(2) Same play as above, only R1 is obstructed by F6. The obstruction is pretty severe (there is actual contact between the players that significantly slows down R1). R1, after the obstruction, then goes 2/3rds of the third before realizing that R2 has been held up. R1 now scurries back to second base.
In the actual play (2), he is thrown out by inches diving head first back into second base.
Now the umpire asks, "if not for the obstruction, would R1 have been out?" (In otherwords, would R1 have been out if play (1) had occured instead of play (2) as I described them.)
Comparing play 1 to play 2. The answer is "no, he would have been safe. The obstruction cost him at least a few steps. He was thrown out by mere inches. If he had those few steps that he lost, he would have been safe going back into second." Thus, R1 is protected back into second.
Where the umpires screwed up, is when they failed to call "time" when the tag was applied to R1 as he was diving back into second base.